gf.me/u/wvkub7 I would like to take this opportunity to thank and wish a happy new year to all of those who helped make the publication of Haggadat Hapesah possible and those who have already purchased copies. I am still trying to raise funds toward the much-requested English edition, but I have run into a snag. … Continue reading
(Part 1) As the Ninth of Av approaches, I am reminded of the critical cultural revolution that is necessary for our people to get back to the state of affairs in which the national day of mourning becomes a holiday. The number 40 is one of those frequently recurring biblical motifs, like the numbers 7, … Continue reading
The book of Exodus seems to stick to a generally chronological order until chapter 18, wherein we read about how Jethro joined Israel at Sinai, even though we only read about the people leaving Rephidim (the last station mentioned in chapter 17) and arriving at Sinai in chapter 19. The sages and subsequent commentators have … Continue reading
The Torah dedicates so much detail to the construction of the sanctuaries because they are the physical manifestations of Israel’s dedication to God’s service. The tragedy of the destruction of the First Temple was that the great riches that had been dedicated to the Temple fell into hands of the heathens. However, the only component of the Tabernacle that fell into enemy hands was the Ark, while the rest of Tabernacle was evacuated from Shiloh and made its way to Nov and Gibeon. The Philistines merely demolished the stone walls that held up the impermanent, tent-like roof of the Shiloh sanctuary and its stone altar, but the original altars of wood, bronze and gold, were saved. Continue reading
The Torah applies halachoth that govern Jewish men to the land of Israel, and the condition of the land of Israel is THE indicator of how well the people of Israel are keeping the covenant. We are supposed to keep the land in our possession so that we can observe the commandments within the land. Selling the land so that it can not keep the essential commandments it is meant to keep is like a Jew selling himself into slavery to a gentile so that he would be compelled to violate the prohibitions of the Torah. It is a shortcut to the ultimate punishment: the land leaving Israelite hands, and the Jews being deprived of keeping the Torah, the vitality of their very existence. Continue reading
